ummm.... WHY THE FUCK DIDN'T YOU GUYS TELL ME TWALL DWARFS WERE TOURING THE US?!?!

The show was magnificent. In a way a show could not have gone more wrong, as far as technical difficulties and odd collisions of mistakes, and hence, given the band's, especially Knox's, ability to turn a train wreck into high comedy and art, the show could have not gone more right.. they bounced around the discography pretty much hitting every release.. except maybe Stumpy. They started with a song off the album I didn't even expect they'd touch, Throw A Sickie. I'll post a more detailed review of the show next week, after the SF show... as I think I'll be giving too much away if I do it now.

So, basically, to all of you fans in SF going to the show there (which I THINK is the 9th, but someone now says the 10th?? Double check with Aquarius or somebody in the know, cuz I first heard the ninth, but maybe that's changed.), don't miss it.

They have a 10 song tour-only CD(R) of songs they did on NZ radio very recently, which are live reworkings of older songs, essentially.

They really were fucking up left and right, but so endearing!

"This was a double-reunion tour and my mind's a battlefield--one of these bands had a grenade to jump. New Zealand's Tall Dwarfs, kind hacks, did so smilingly, for a fuxxor crowd with a visible age divide but party shirts aplenty.

Young kids there who made the grave mistake of clicking "Tall Dwarfs" under Guided By Voices' AMG influenced by's really wanted to dig the Dwarfs--that was clear--really wanted to understand how the band could be important but not listenable. The Down Under accent gets them off the bad vox hook, even the racist hook (not really), but Jesus Christ you're like a hundred years old, learn to play the guitar already. Breaking strings on stage is only impressive when done on purpose, or accidentally with your teeth.

Old kids, especially when the (short) Dwarf with no sleeves on his shirt said, "We live 600 miles apart, we don't get much time to practice," got the jokes a little too much. Then they played a song, then another one, then a cover, then ten more songs, each one a better argument for late-term abortion (like, now) than the one before.

During the "Gospel song for people who don't believe in God", Sleeveless (Snow White's eighth) explained, "Somewhere inside of you there is an African American screaming to get out." Nope.
"

Also, by their own admission, this tour of theirs was VERY last minute. So the comments about not being able to practice much aren't meant to be jokes. And it's a valid complaint if you've been waiting to see a band for a long time. I don't share that specific opinion, as I think the show was still ultimately a load of fun, regardless...

And, well, sorry.. but if you're seeing Tall Dwarfs purely because they were recommended as having influenced Guided By Voices (which I don't really see at all. GBV sound influenced by The Who/The Jam demoes at best.), you're not going to get proto-GBV... thank god.

"Flipper aren't very good live. They were a mainstay at university orientation / start of year parties (1980 - 1982) in Berkeley, but they always played as the ol' token friends of the management deal. They make jokes, they play badly. Punk! 'cept it's dull...Still, nice to know that there's an audience for every aspect of pointless indie estorica...."

Not to compare TD with Flipper, musically.. but Paul, you kinda sound like "that guy"... And that's fine. To each his/her own.

Like the Libertines, I'd guess.

I'm glad that age, flip-flops, and marital issues affect your opinion of one's music.

You don't have to like Tall Dwarfs' music, Paul, and you're free to state that but -- frankly -- you're now being a complete dick.

what did you like about the show?

Looseness and "amateurism" are attributes to me, though I'm finding a lot of people are seeing them as "bad". (This is what I'm preparing a piece on, actually) I'm not saying the Tall Dwarfs show was the best show ever, but it ranks up there, and I'm really happy I made the effort to see the show. Am I operating under heavy delusion/cognitive dissonance? If you want to think that, then go right ahead.